Songbird ReMix General Topics

What do I need to upgrade or get to use Songbird Remix or the add-on packages?

With my move to Hivewire3D.com in July 2013, the requirements have changed in the Songbird Remix series.All sets are stand-along now.
The "Songbird Remix Upgrade" set has been discontinued, use Songbird ReMix Standalone instead.

The Songbird ReMix Series Upgrades

I'll try to say this as plainly as I can... Songbird Remix 3 is the latest version of all my bird model(s). Unlike many other products (such as Victoria and Michael) you do not have to toss your existing content and repurchase everything. I upgrade everything for FREE. I do update my CR2s from time to time. The latest CR2(s) can be found the Songbird ReMix Downloads.

To get the latest version of Songbird Remix Volumes: The answers to this is two-fold; one of my DAZ3D customers and one for my Hivewire3D Customers...

DAZ3D Customers: Updates will no longer be available through DAZ3D directly as they are no longer my publisher. Hivewire3D has kindly offered a solution to this. Hivewire3D (my current publisher) will honor your Songbird ReMix purchases at DAZ for updates provided you open a Hivewire3D account and provide some form of Proof of Purchase (such as a screen capture of the Songbird ReMix packages you own listed in the DAZ Download Manager or your DAZ account Page). Email Ken with the screen capture and the email you use for your Hivewire3D account and he'll get the updated files linked to your Hivewire3D account.

Hivewire3D Customers: The last series-wide update of Songbird Remix was on July 1, 2013. Reset your Hivewire3D download(s) to get these FIRST. All current and future updates for Hivewire3D Customers can be found in my Songbird ReMix Downloads. These updates will periodically be given to Hivewire3D and the date shown here (July 1, 2013) will change.

I'm having troubles with the Conforming Crests

Well, if you're like me, you don't read those readmes and other documentation when the DAZ installer asks if you want to read them. They then get buried some where in the Poser Runtime and are soon forgotten. There's a PDF file you'll find incredibly useful; the Manual and Field Guide. Now I know I roll my eyes at manuals but you'll find the Field Guide part of the manual pretty cool-- there's all sorts of information about the birds featured in the package like habitat, status, nesting habits and cool facts. If you can't find the PDF, go to Songbird ReMix Downloads ; copies of all the manuals are there.

The texture and transparency maps don't seem to line up right

One of the most common problem emails I received is that the texture maps don't seem to work. 99% of the time this is because the user is trying to use the Songbird model with the Songbird ReMix maps. These are NOT compatible. You need to use the Songbird ReMix model with the Songbird ReMix maps. Why...? See below.

Will the Original Songbird Maps work with Songbird ReMix?

No. while close to the SBRM maps they need to be adjusted to match the SBRM Templates. There are no plans to revise the Songbird maps to Songbird ReMix format and visa versa.

Will Songbird ReMix work with Mimic?

There's a Mimic configuration (DMC) file for SBRM in Songbird ReMix Downloads
. How good does Mimic work with a bird? Click here for a demo movie (Flash8 format)

Ken's take on Songbird ReMix Vs. other artist's bird models

Many people have asked me what I think of other artists creating birds or textures for my Songbird ReMix series. That's easy question... the more birds out there, the better for the users (more choices), and the more visibility and respect birds will get. It's probably clear to most that I do the birds I want to do. I don't really look at market trends-- if I did, I'd be creating skimpy clothes for 3D female models. In some cases, I have overlapped some bird species found in other artist's product list (Blue Tit, Raven, Pigeon, etc) and, in some cases, they have overlapped my library. If I create an overlap, it's just simply I wanted them in Songbird ReMix format.

Expansion Plans

I've had numerous requests for all sort of birds around the world. While I try to try each request seriously, there's only so much I can do. Many times a number of requests end up in a Regional and theme volume. I eventually plan to cover select species of the entire bird world with Songbird ReMix or SBRM hybrid models.

Morph Questions

What does the "MirrorStretch" morph do in the conforming crest models? MirrorStretch: Mirrors the “Stretch” Action morph found in the model Head's section.

Rendering Tips and Issues

Using Specific Programs

DAZ|Studio Use

How to use SBRM in DAZ|Studio

The current and future versions of the DAZ Studio version of Songbird ReMix are written for DAZ Studio 4.5 and above. They use the .duf format. I will no longer support earlier versions of DAZ Studio. As of 2013, all files will be found under "Poser Formats" when using DAZ Studio. Studio material scripts within the Poser "Runtime" to accurately apply the proper Studio material settings.

Using the Latest CR2 in DAZ Studio

Simply get the latest .cr2s from the Downloads Section and install them into the Poser "Runtime" portion of your "My Library" folder.

The bird feet look messed-up/out of scale in DAZ Studio

Version 4.5 of DAZ Studio changed the way DAZ Studio handles scaling. Versions 4.5+ handle scaling radically different from Version 2.3, 3 and 4. Make sure you are using the most recent version of DAZ Studio and the Songbird ReMix package you have. I no longer support versions of DAZ Studio lower than v4.5. Look at the section above on how to get the free upgrades to the latest versions of your products

POSER Use

Vue, Bryce & Other 3D App Use

When importing Poser 6 content, the morphs are not coming in correctly.

In Poser, switch off External Binary Morph Target support on the Misc tab of the General Preferences dialog (CTRL/CMD+K) before saving your PZ3/PZZ for import into Vue.

There are weird artifacts/triangles showing up near the bird in my renders.

Those are probably the invisible wing and beak controller guides labeled as RForeArm, RHand, RFeather, LForearm, LHand, LFeather and Beak. In Vue's Material Editor either make them invisible again by turning transparency to 100% or delete them.

Textures on the Wings or fluff feathers in Vue aren't rendering correctly

See the [Rendering Quirks and Tips] Section

The eye texture is missing or white

The eyes are probably too reflective and are using a reflection map. Reflective properties differ between programs. The “Eye” material uses a Poser reflection map; since Vue has a built-in environment, it’s better to use the Vue one and cut down the reflection to 20-50% depending on light in the scene.

Select the imported bird model from the Layer it’s loaded in – usually it’s called “BODY”

The Material editor Section should say “BODY” and have a “ 1 of 15” materials with a down arrow and two left/right page arrows, Select the DOWN arrow and the EYES material.

The Bird is too shiny

Vue reads Poser highlight settings differently than Poser reads them. You'll find often Vue reads the opposite of what Poser would do what highlights, thus materials such as plummage, bodyfeathers, wings, legs read in the 80-90 range when they should be in the 30-40 range. I also turned down the Highlights on Plumage, PlumageNH, Beak and WingFeathers and TailFeathers to Highland Global intensity 45% and Highlight Global size 30%.

Carrara Use

Using Songbird ReMix within Carrara

It is strongly recommended that you use DAZ Studio as the vehicle to get Songbird ReMix to work properly in Carrara. Importing from a Poser Runtime may cause issues and deform the model.

Load the DS version of Songbird ReMix bird you want and Export the bird using Collada with DAZ Extensions.

Importing that Collada file into Carrara should clear up any issues often found importing from the Poser Runtime.

You can then adjust the shaders and drag and drop the bird to the Carrara Browser, thus having a Carrara native version of your bird.

Weird Hip bumps and messed up feet

This is caused by importing from the Poser Runtime. Carrara (and DAZ Studio) do not support internal Poser Propagating Scale commands within the Songbird ReMix series extensively. It also fails to read the SmoothZones in the hip region when Thigh yScaling/zScaling is used and radically distort the hip/rump region. The best solution is to use the DAZ Studio Collada export option described above. If you do not want to use that method, there is a work-around:

If you are experiencing deformed feet, look at the Scale values for one of the feet and apply those values to the rest of the digits on each foot.

If you are experiencing a deformed rump, turn both yScale and or zScale values in the Thighs to 100%

If you are experiencing deformed wings, check both wing parts and make sure WingFold=0. Allow the BODY section morph to control the Wing Fold

If you are experiencing "Graying" around the Fluff morphs, you'll need to either Hide off/Hide those Fluff areas or adjust the material settings to improve the "look"